C4: Don’t put the lid on 1MDB investigations

Submitted by moderator on Tue, 07/26/2016 - 12:23

KUALA LUMPUR: The Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) has urged the Attorney-General (AG) to urgently concede to requests for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) by countries investigating the 1MDB Scandal. “We remind him that he must work for public interest, as he’s paid by taxpayers,” said the NGO’s Founder Director Cynthia Gabriel in a statement.

C4 Center, elsewhere, called for the following:
Firstly, the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) should open fresh investigations into the USD681 million in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s account.
“The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has revealed that the USD 681 million in Najib’s private bank accounts was from 1MDB monies,” noted Gabriel.
Secondly, outgoing MACC Director Abu Kassim should tell the people all recommendations to the AG on details of its investigations on 1MDB.
Thirdly, the police should inform the people the status of their investigations on the Scandal.

C4 was taking its cue from statements issued by the US Attorney-General (AG) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) on the 1MDB Scandal.
“It was truly disturbing that the police and the AG in Malaysia were clearly failing the people by trying to put a lid on the 1MDB investigations,” said Gabriel.
She lamented that the local authorities were leaving it to the US to recover Malaysian assets and hunt down the kleptocratic corruptors involved in the scandal.

On a brighter note, the NGO was encouraged the provisions of the international cooperation chapter, a key pillar of the United Nations Anti Corruption Convention (UNCAC), was being strongly enforced in the multi country investigations of the 1MDB Scandal.
“This was made known following the DoJ’s civil forfeiture suits that were filed by the US Government,” said Gabriel.
Already, MACC has confirmed that it was working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in tracking down a key business figure, believed to be Jho Low.
In its detailed and meticulously drafted civil lawsuits on 1MDB, continued Gabriel, shocking details have been revealed on how the people have been massively defrauded.
“Billions of public funds were stolen for private enrichment.”

The C4 statement expressed confidence that the civil lawsuits filed last week in the US, on USD 1 billion worth of assets, was a prelude to more concrete actions that would be taken by Washington.
“It furthers the global perception that it was serious about thwarting cross border corruption, money laundering and financial crimes,” summed up Gabriel.